JUTLAND, BATTLE OF. Called by the Germans the battle of the Skagerrak, this battle was fought in the North Sea between the British Grand Fleet, under Admiral Sir J. R. Jellicoe, and the German High Seas Fleet, under Admiral Reinhard Scheer, on May 31, 1916. The main action took place about 75 m. from the Danish coast in the neighbourhood of lat. N. long. E. The encounter is memorable as being the only occasion through out the World War on which the rival battle fleets met, also for the fact that it left the British fleet undisputed master of the German one up to the day of the latter's surrender. As a test of modern naval material it was prolific in lessons for both sides.
governed to a large extent by highly technical considerations, and the battle is not an easy one for the layman to follow without a painstaking study of its successive phases and the motives which produced them. Moreover, in order to obtain a true perspective of events it is necessary to keep in mind the following fundamental facts : (a) The Allied cause rested absolutely on the retention by Britain of that sea supremacy of which the Grand Fleet was the fulcrum.
(b) By the date of Jutland Germany's surface navy had already been rendered largely immobile and her mercantile marine had been swept off the seas.
(c) It was the definite policy of the British naval command to bring the German main fleet to action and annihilate it if possible, but there was no intention to gamble with the Allied fortunes by seeking an engagement in waters where mines, submarines and shore defences would give the enemy a definite advantage, nor under conditions where the outcome would be largely dependent on chance, such as a fleet action at night.
(d) It was the definite policy of the German High Command not to risk a decisive action until, by a process of attrition, the British forces might have become so weakened as to give good prospects of success.
(e) It was to pursue this policy of attrition that Scheer set out prior to Jutland, his object being to lure the British fleet out in the hope of falling on a section of it before it could be supported; but the last thing he intended or desired was to meet a united Grand Fleet.
The order of events can be conveniently summarised as follows : I. The German plan to entice the British fleet to sea while
submarines were lying in wait for it, and in the hope of concen trating the High Seas Fleet on a detached part of it.
2. The sailing of the rival forces, neither realising the full significance of the coming impact.
3. The first contact and battle-cruiser action on the run south to the High Seas Fleet.
4. Beatty's run north leading the High Seas Fleet up to the Grand Fleet.
5. Jellicoe's main engagement with his combined Grand Fleet against the combined High Seas Fleet.
6. The German fleet's break through the British destroyer flotillas at night, and the failure to send intelligence to Jellicoe Which resulted in the escape of the enemy next day.
Situation Before the Battle.—Admiral Jellicoe has sum marised the causes which led up to Jutland as follows : 1. The pressure of the British blockade had led to insistent calls for action by the German fleet.
2. Scheer, who had assumed command of the High Seas Fleet in Jan. 1916, was chafing under his enforced inactivity.
3. A strong protest from President Wilson had caused the withdrawal of German submarines from the trade routes and thereby rendered them available for enterprises of a military character.
4. Scheer may have been led to believe that the steps an nounced in England to prevent a recurrence of such episodes as the Lowestoft raid indicated that some division of the Grand Fleet was intended.
While Scheer was planning a new attack on the east coast of England, certain changes had, in fact, been made in the distri bution of the British forces. Jellicoe, with the main part of the Grand Fleet, was still at Scapa Flow awaiting the completion of the outer defences of the Firth of Forth before transferring his base to the more southerly harbour, but he had detached the 5th Battle Squadron of four fast "Queen Elizabeths," "Barham," "Valiant," "Warspite" and "Malaya," to replace the 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron of three "Invincibles," which were at Scapa for gunnery practice, and sent them to reinforce Beatty's Battle Cruiser Fleet at Rosyth. A third force, consisting of the 2nd Battle Squadron, 1st Cruiser Squadron and a destroyer flotilla, was based on Invergordon.